Venus
Frosty lies the winter-landscape,In the twilight golden-green.Down the Park's deserted alleys,Naked elms stand stark and lean.
Dumb the murmur of the fountain,Birds have flown from lawn and hill.But while yonder star's ascendant,Love triumphal reigneth still.
See the keen flame throb and tremble,Brightening in the darkening night,Breathing like a thing of passion,In the sky's smooth chrysolite.
Not beneath the moon, oh lover,Thou shalt gain thy heart's desire.Speak to-night! The gods are with theeBurning with a kindred fire.
Words in this poem
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- ascendant n.
- Ascent; height; elevation. [F. ascendant, L. ascendens; p. pr. of ascendere.]
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Venus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Venus, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/venus.html, id L01905.
Form and metre
Venus is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A landscape · greenA · alleys · leanA
- 2 -A-A fountain · hillA · ascendant · stillA
- 3 -A-A tremble · nightA · passion · chrysoliteA
- 4 -A-A lover · desireA · thee · fireA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Frosty lies the winter-landscape, | 8 | /˘··/˘/· |
| In the twilight golden-green. | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Down the Park's deserted alleys, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Naked elms stand stark and lean. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Dumb the murmur of the fountain, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Birds have flown from lawn and hill. | 7 | ······· |
| But while yonder star's ascendant, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Love triumphal reigneth still. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| See the keen flame throb and tremble, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Brightening in the darkening night, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘˘· |
| Breathing like a thing of passion, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| In the sky's smooth chrysolite. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Not beneath the moon, oh lover, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thou shalt gain thy heart's desire. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Speak to-night! The gods are with thee | 8 | ········ |
| Burning with a kindred fire. | 9 | /˘··/˘˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.